[M]eanwhile, the rules for covering Obama have grown by at least one in recent weeks.

Around the Super Tuesday primary elections on Feb. 5, the barriers around the press area at Obama events went from easily penetrable, fabric rope lines to interlocking metal gates manned by vigilant gatekeepers.

Bottom line: The media can no longer roam free.

For months prior to that, reporters could mingle among hundreds of supporters after rallies as Obama worked the rope line. It was a chance to see him interact with voters – and one of the few opportunities to squeeze in a question.

But camera crews and reporters often clogged the rope line, which annoyed Obama because he viewed it as his time to meet voters. Foreign TV crews would sometimes do stand-up shots there.

Now, reporters must usually flag down a staff member before entering the rope line area.

“We are fortunate to have a packed house, in addition to thousands of media from all over the world attending our events,” campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki wrote in a statement. “We are always flexible in making sure the media has the access they need, but more importantly that the thousands of people who come out to the events have the best experience possible.”

The remedy suggested to select reporters? Take off your press badge and slip past the gatekeepers.

For his part, Obama attempted to connect with the traveling press corps Friday. But just as soon as he started, he was gone again.

He poked his head out from behind a blue curtain at the visitors center at the University of Texas-Pan American campus. Reporters, hunched over their laptops, looked startled at the sight of the candidate. They hadn’t interacted with him in five days.

“Words matter. Don’t listen to Hillary,” Obama yelled to the four dozen media, beaming a mischievous smile. “That’s a joke.”

One reporter, sensing the rare opportunity to fire off a question, asked Obama about McCain’s criticism of his pledge to talk with Cuban president Raul Castro.

“I didn’t hear John McCain,” Obama said, even though his campaign put out a statement on that very topic 30 minutes earlier.

A second later, the Illinois senator disappeared behind the curtain – off to do an interview with US Weekly, the entertainment news magazine.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

And there is a debate tonight… MSNBC 8 PM ET. My guess, all of the several Hillarys show up.

** PS forgot to add, the handlettered sign is hard to read it also could be, Obama Will Make America Shine Like the Sun.

Either way…. the last big rally I saw, one of the ones in Ohio, was pretty much a Holy Roller event, certainly in the first rows. In my opinion, that is really, really old politics.

Just lost the link, but I saw earlier that the Chairman of the Alabama Dem Party is asking for an FCC investigation into the blacking out of the 60 minutes show on the railroading of Dem Governor Siegelman in Alabama.

Also, his attorney is asking for a special prosecutor to look into the case.

Since Karl Rove is now implicated in the case and it is definitely tied to the US Attorney Scandal (plus there are charges now of judicial misconduct, as a Bush appointed judge over the case.) looks like it is a job for Congress ….

This case looks like the Repub plan to take over the DOJ and the judiciary, in action.

Meantime Siegelman sits in jail and presumably the crooked judge has heard many more cases since this one.

And Gonzales went free, and so far as I know, there hasn’t been a single prosecution of anyone who helped tear apart the judicial system in this country. Despite all the evidence from even Republicans.

The United States has become increasingly the most feared and often hated country in the world. Well, that perception is in fact incorrect. It’s fed by propaganda. There’s very little dislike of Americans in the world, shown by repeated polls, and the dissatisfaction—that is, the hatred and the anger—they come from acceptance of American values, not a rejection of them, and recognition that they’re rejected by the US government and by US elites, which does lead to hatred and anger.

“In this amazing brief,” Hilzoy writes, “Haynes argued that bombing a nesting site for migratory birds would benefit birdwatchers, since ‘bird watchers get more enjoyment spotting a rare bird than they do spotting a common one.’ Moreover, he added, the birds would benefit as well, since using their nests as a bombing range would minimize ‘human intrusion’. (from Frromkin’s column in todays WaPo.

Matt Taibbi has a good article in Rolling Stone this week also, about the betrayal of the Democrats … pretending to be anti-war to get elected, then pushing the message, which I first saw in Jan. of last year on Daily Kos, that Dems had a ‘lot of work to do such as pushing through bills that would benefit the people’. While making excuses as to why they could not defeat a single Bush proposal on the war …

The NYT had a surprisingly good piece last spring, on the sell out, and the buy out, iwth cash numbers, of the better known so called anti war groups from Moveon and offshoots (Mattzei) to Tom Andrews’ Win Without War…

Having read the Taylor Branch books on the Civil Rights Movement, I’d have a hard time saying anything critical of John Lewis.

He had to have been the most fearless protest leader in American history. I’m amazed he survived into the 1970s.

Then again, I guess the government didn’t kill him in the 1960s because unlike King and Malcolm X he never really struck anyone as having had the ability to be a leader of national stature that could change the political landscape.

My John Lewis knowlege goes from 1960 to about 1965 then stops. Then it picks up again in the late 1990s when I heard him on Democracy Now telling Amy Goodman how he learned to preach by preaching to his chickens growing up on the farm.

AUSTIN, Texas – In his radio and TV ads that are blanketing Texas, Barack Obama claims a chief executive can make more money “in 10 minutes” than an ordinary worker makes in a year. Obama wants to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, enact a national health plan, offer a $4,000-a-year tuition reimbursement in exchange for national service, and have the government intervene to prevent home foreclosures.

But he doesn’t want anyone to call him a liberal.

For despite Obama’s vow to build a working majority for change – to win a clear mandate for his progressive agenda, rather than engage in Clinton-like “triangulation” – he’s not yet willing to own the l-word.

Obama seems to have calculated that such labels can be distracting – that some voters have negative associations with the term liberal that obscures their support for such Democratic priorities as affordable healthcare and higher education for all.

He may be right. But his reluctance to own the term in a forthright way is somewhat surprising because Obama has said he wants to be a transformative figure like Ronald Reagan, whose crusade against liberals and big government has dominated American political discourse for almost 30 years.

etc.

Nothing like compromising who you are to appease the right-wingers – and this is just the beginning.

Now that John McCain, who reacted to questions about his conservatism as if they were questions about his manhood, has all but secured the GOP nod, he’s been trying to cast Obama as a liberal. The National Journal recently obliged by publishing a survey declaring Obama the most liberal senator. The survey itself was highly subjective – based on a limited number of recent votes – but it nonetheless pegged Obama as a liberal.

On Friday, Obama responded – by denying it.

One of the more appealing innovations of Obama’s campaign is the way the candidate ends his stump speeches by running through the arguments against him: too young, too new, too naive, too trusting. Speaking before thousands of cheering young supporters in the Texas capitol, Obama added another: too liberal.

“Oh, he’s liberal, he’s liberal,” Obama said, mimicking his critics. “Let me tell you something. There’s nothing liberal about wanting to reduce money in politics. That is common sense. There’s nothing liberal about wanting to make sure [our soldiers] are treated properly when they come home . . . . There’s nothing liberal about wanting to make sure that everybody has healthcare. We are spending more on healthcare in this country than any other advanced country, but we’ve got more uninsured. There’s nothing liberal about saying that doesn’t make sense, and we should so something smarter with our healthcare system.”

Obama has invented a phrase for actions that smack of politics-as-usual: okey-doke. Of the liberal charge, Obama thundered: “Don’t let them run that ‘okey doke’ on you.”

Like all science fairs, you could tell which projects had parental help and which ones didn’t at the 2008 Home School Science Fair. The blue-ribbon winning project on dinosaurs and people roaming the earth together, with the color photos and the perfectly cut lettering, probably had parental help. The one explaining how a broken motor disproves Darwin’s theory of evolution, with the roughly cut pieces of paper and the penciled in chicken scratches, probably did not.

Every diorama in the Home School Science Fair, which took place inside a shopping mall in Roseville, Minnesota, had a biblical quote attached to it. A young woman whose project involved teaching her dog how to run circles between her legs decorated the words: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15) in pink lace fabric. This quote got to the crux of the science fair, in my opinion: parental commandment. These parents pulled their children out of school, away from their peers, and said, “Now prove that Darwin was wrong.”

The projects all used classic high school science language: Start with a hypothesis, move on to testing, and then draw a conclusion. The problem was that much of the science was backwards. In good science, you start with a piece of evidence and try to find a truth. With creationist science, you start with a truth (the Bible), and try to find the evidence.

The strangest choices are the Eminem and Rage Against the Machine songs … they are so very much about how FUCKED UP Americans are in their attitudes toward “others”.

Oh, and if I was the Obama campaign, I’d make the press fucking work, too. Screw ‘em. They don’t actually do any reporting anyway, so why bother showing them any deference? We’re so past that now … and they did it to themselves. I’m sure GE and Disney will keep cutting checks for them.

Our diplomacy is now the province of the military commander responsible for half the globe.

We all know why, because Killing is our business, and business is good.

I applauded one Liberal MP today during parliament’s debate on continuing the Afghanistan mission past 2009 until 2011 (which I obviously oppose) who pointed out that, for all the talk about reconstruction and human rights, the Conservatives had the minister of defence – not the prime minister or foreign affairs minister – start the debate, indicating exactly where they were coming from: the desire to continue fighting while supporting the MIC. He also pointed out that since Canada is part of a much broader mission, it’s not like we actually have much control over how things proceed there – something I have been writing about on my blog. His question, which caused me to write to thank him for asking it, was: Why are we there?

I had just written a post yesterday asking what we’re doing in Afghanistan. I saw from my stats a few minutes later that he actually checked it out while he was in the house of commons. At least I know someone in the Liberal party is listening. (The NDP and the Bloc are opposed to the extension but, with a whipped vote, it’s looking like the Liberals will prop up the Cons for the extension).

SEATTLE – An undisclosed technical glitch blocked users from logging on to Microsoft Corp.’s free Web-based e-mail service and other sites Tuesday.

After several hours, the software maker was able to reduce but not completely fix the problem that left Web surfers around the world unable to access Hotmail and other services that require a Microsoft login. Those include the Xbox Live video game community site and the Windows Live Messenger instant messaging program.

Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Bright Eyes are among the artists contributing songs to a forthcoming double album benefiting Iraq Veterans Against The War.

‘Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran’, was compiled by was by Iraq war veteran Tomas Young, who was paralysed in the war after only one week of service.

The collection, due out in the US on March 18, includes a previously unreleased version of Vedder’s ‘No More’, which he wrote specifically for the ‘Body of War’ documentary about Young’s life. Vedder performed the song with Ben Harper at Lollapalooza in 2007.

“Tomas has taught me a great deal, and our friendship has become one of depth and sincerity,” Vedder said in a statement. “It has been a mind-expanding experience. I see how he relies on the strength of the songs to help him through each day. It is a true living example of the power of music.”

The double-CD set also features songs by Rage Against The Machine, Roger Waters, Tom Waits and Tori Amos, among others.

Sales proceeds will go toward Iraq Veterans Against The War, a non-profit organisation that gives voice to active-duty service people and veterans who are
against the war, but are under various pressures to remain silent.

SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.

Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.

“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.”

A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. “All the generals are perfectly clear that they don’t have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.

A matter of conscience, or just another example of Americans only finding a “conscience” if they can’t WIN?

About these “which Hillary will show up tonite?” comments in the MSM (based on her changing moods). Afaic, that’s a gender-based slur. She has different faces because (gasp!), she’s human. Obama has also shown changing faces of his personality – in the same range as Clinton – which leads me to suspect that this “hysterical woman who can’t control herself” charge is simply based on the fact that she’s female. What else could it be?

oh… Boot and Powers just like war. LOL She was fully as breathless and pink when Sarko and Kouchner went in… as was Bush. And McCain. They all had the same smile when they would mention Sarko I noticed.

You know, reading this post, I felt this feeling wash over me. I’m beginning to let myself believe that the wonderful world of the future, you know, the one Walt Disney promised us baby boomers, is finally about to arrive. I can’t wait for Jan 20, 2009. Not only because it is the end of You-know-who’s admin. but also because of the beginning of Obama’s. Man I hope this comes true.

45. The wingnuts also went ballistic over this pic of Laura in a hijab. They really don’t care who might “look Muslim”. They’re such bed-wetters (oops…I’m sorry…”patriots”), they’ll even eat their own over it.

49 – I knew of a donut shop in Montreal that Disney went after, with BIG legal guns, all for some goofy, I mean, Mickey-related pun in the title. They’re very serious about silly, you know!

Anyway, having heard the donut tale (now there’s a pff moniker) a decade ago, I’ve been waiting for Walt’s copyright-keepers to catch up to Emsock and her swarm of animated widgets for what, 2 years now?

(Not to mention the estates of one or two dead foreign artists. And I’ve just been assuming that Angelina Jolie has had other priorities.)

Last year, a B-52 mistakenly loaded with nuclear weapons took a trip across the United States, sparking concerns about the safety of U.S. nuclear arsenal. The important question, however, is whether this incident was an isolated snafu, or indicative of deeper problems in the nuclear world. Some are arguing it is indeed the latter; safety standards and procedures in the nuclear world have been eroding for years, reports Air Force Times, the same newspaper that broke the original bent spear incident.

George Monbiot reports on a study revealing — surprise, surprise! — that countries with the most fervent religious faith have the greatest number of abortions.

As Monbiot notes, this stems directly from one of the primary aims of organized religion: the control of women, especially their fertility. The zealous pursuit of this goal leads to rejection of contraception and sex education, which in turn gives rise to more unwanted pregnancies — hence more abortions. In fact, studies show that the country with perhaps the most “liberal” and “permissive” sexual policies — the Netherlands– has the lowest rate of abortion in the world.

which part was the shot in the head (I’m about 10 minutes behind the live feed on the DVR)? Was it the attack on kids who “think they’re immortal”? Does it occur to her that already living on ramen and popcorn is reason enough not to buy overpriced insurance?

I was waiting in line at Walgreens the other day with my packet of razor blades and bottle of Diet Coke. The Walgreens near me always has lines that make me wait 20 minutes. It’s also on the edge of “the ghetto/hood/inner city/whatever you want to call it”.

Anyway, there were these two women in line behind me (both black, early to mid 30ish) talking about skipping treatments for some illness or another to save money. I forget exactly what one of these women had, but she was saying that the treatment was working until she had to spend the money for something else. Now, she feels a little better since she got part of the treatment but would like to finish it but doesn’t have the money.

In other words, Hillary has a point. Both she and Obama dodge the obvious point (that we need real single payer health care) BUT if poor people have the option of not getting medical treatment because they’re living check to check and need the money, they will.

Mouthing these words like What if the Iraqis said they don’t WANT you there?!! What if they said GET OUT! GET OUT?!!, like Timmy’s ever given the slightest flying fuck about the notion, even for a fucking second, while preparing for his interviews with American leaders.

Pat Buchanan and Chris Matthews both agree that “Reagan won the Cold War.” They also think that if Obama gets to be President, he’ll get pnowned by Hugo Chavez exactly the way Kennedy got pnowned by Kruschev in Vienna.

off topic–I am a huge fan of Ananova’s Quirkies, and I recently read a story of a Romanian guy who returned his inflatable girl, because she wasn’t moaning properly, and she deflated too easily. His consumer complaint was upheld–there was an electrical defect in the moaning, and a structural defect in inflation.

The Israel lobby is at least partly behind the Obama is a Secret Muslim smear and certainly behind the demonization of Muslims in general.

But Obama still has to suck up to them and if he actually said anything like “I think demonizing any religion is wrong, that includes Judaism and it includes Islam” he would have instantly be rendered “unelectable”.

Timmeh: “and then Godzilla and that monster from Cloverfield attack our friends in Israel, and we find out that they were created by a secret Nazi cabal hiding in Serbia … WHAT WOULD PRESIDENT OBAMA DO?!?!!?!” (cups his chin in his chubby hands, flutters his lashes coquetishly). “Hmmmmmm?!?!”

can you give a point for Obama for admitting he didn’t object strongly to the Schiavo shenanigans

Maybe after I finish getting over my disgust over the pandering to the Israel lobby.

What Obama did tonight was act like John Kerry.

The Israel lobby is demonizing him as a “secret Muslim” (and they’re at least some of the people behind it) and he’s forced to suck up to them.

And yet, even though he’s a non Muslim and even though Muslims are being locked up without charges in this country and demonized in general, Obama was too gutless to denounce bigotry against Muslims or immigrants even once.

So he’s basically still sucking up to the Christian and pro-Israel right. No change. In fact, with Terri Schiavo it was passive. Now it’s active.

He lost a lot of my respect tonight. He’s nothing but the secret Muslim John Kerry.

Kerry was demonized for being part of the anti-war movement. He never stood up to it.

Obama is being demonized as a Secret Muslim. He never denounced anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant bigotry when he denounced Farrakhan.

If John Kerry didn’t eat pork, prayed to Mecca five times a day and was plotting another suicide attack on an American skycraper instead of just meeting with Jane Fonda in Hanoi and planning to demoralize the troops over lunch with Ho Chi Minh, they’d be the same guy.

Dee , re Schiavo, I think the Schiavo vote, admission of a “mistake” was mostly to say the name “Shiavo” with the word “mistake” in same sentence and directed at low information conservative voters who will hear what they want to hear, Confusing it as him being NOT on the “Pull the plug” “side” , ugh, such as the debate is framed..

190 – Reminds me of holding a nephew in a white lace dress at a Polish Catholic church, having been assured that my role was perfunctory, no oaths involved. HA ha ha ha. (What can I say, I was young. You should have seen the maid of honor dress. GREEN FEATHERS?)

A loss here, where Republicans usually win, carries an ominous overtone for Bruno and the GOP, who face yielding total control of state government to the Democrats, already in command of the Assembly and the governor’s mansion. Spitzer made it clear early in his term that he wanted a Democratic-controlled Senate and he worked to win a special election last year on Long Island.

Each candidate spent more than $1.3 million on the campaign, which barely lasted six weeks, making it the second most expensive Senate election in state history. Most of the money came from the state parties or the party leadership _ only about 1 percent of each candidate’s total contributions came from inside the district.

The testimony from the dancer, Marseilles Payne, 32, in the trial of three detectives charged in Mr. Bell’s shooting was as dramatic as it was at odds with other accounts of that early morning of Nov. 25, 2006. Ms. Payne’s version more closely resembled an account of road rage, with a single detective opening fire after a car collision, than the chaotic events that the police, prosecutors and the defense have described.

Nonetheless, hearing the account, several supporters of Mr. Bell and his family, including his parents, left the courtroom in tears as Ms. Payne herself broke down several times.

Ms. Payne said she last saw Mr. Bell turn on his car’s headlights on Liverpool Street, in Jamaica, Queens, and pull away from the curb. She was at her car and was going to follow him and his friends to a diner for breakfast after her long night of dancing, she said.

“As he came out, a minivan came from behind me and they crashed,” she said. “The driver of the minivan got out of the car. He got out and he started shooting.” She said she was close enough to see the muzzle flash from his pistol.

“I saw the fire, like, three times and I turned and I ran,” she said, adding that she crouched in someone’s shrubs. “I waited for the gunshots to stop. It was about three seconds, and I started to get up, and the gunshots started again.”

It was Detective Oliver whom Ms. Payne described, but she said she did not know at the time that he was a police detective.

On cross-examination, Ms. Payne said she did not see most of the events in the widely held account of the shooting, even though it seems she could have from what she described as her vantage point. She said she never saw Detective Isnora approach Mr. Bell’s car with a gun, and never saw Mr. Bell back up after hitting the minivan, strike a wall and charge forward, hitting the van again.

She said she never heard anyone shout “Police,” never heard any screams. She said she ran back to the club and told the bouncer, “They’re shooting down the block! They’re killing those boys!”

She said that after two or three minutes, she ran back to her car so she could move it before the police arrived, but she was too late, arriving to see paramedics pulling bodies from Mr. Bell’s car. When the police questioned her, she repeatedly denied having seen or heard anything before finally giving detectives a statement that night, she said.

“I don’t need this drama in my life,” she said Tuesday, recalling her reluctance.

Ms. Payne also described an encounter, before the shooting, with a bald man who called her nickname, Trini, as she left the club. He said he had been watching her all night, and offered to pay for private time with her, but she said, “I don’t do dates.”

She later learned the man was an undercover police officer, although not one of the officers involved in the shooting.

So.

Imprisoned journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal has been taken to the Intensive Care Unit of Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, after he was removed from prison for a medical emergency without any notification to his family, friends or lawyers. Prison officials told his supporters he is in diabetic shock. We get an update f […]

Indiana is facing boycotts and fierce criticism following Gov. Mike Pence's new measure that could sanction discrimination by allowing business owners to refuse service to LGBT customers in the name of "religious freedom." Connecticut is the first state to officially boycott Indiana over the move, now San Francisco and Seattle have also impose […]

We look at the case of Frederic "Rick" Bourke, who is considered a whistleblower after he was imprisoned for exposing corruption and bribery in the oil-rich region of the Caspian Sea. Bourke is known for founding the luxury handbag company Dooney & Bourke and is a philanthropist who has invested his wealth into ventures seeking novel cures for […]

George Mitchell, the former senator and U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under President Obama, joins us to discuss the escalating U.S.-Israel standoff over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign against an Iran nuclear deal and open rejection of the two-state solution. Last week, it emerged Israeli intelligence spied on the Iran talks and […]

About 40 mothers being held at an immigration detention camp in Karnes, Texas, have launched a hunger strike to protest the detainment of their children as the families await immigration…Click to Continue »

On Reality Asserts Itself, Craig and Cindy Corrie tell Paul Jay, "people find hope in the work that we're doing and in the fact that Rachel was there that day, and stood against what was happening to all of those families in the Gaza Strip"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that he would lift a hold on U.S. military aid to Cairo, but also said the United States would stop allowing Egypt to buy equipment on credit starting in fiscal year 2018.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republicans will push ahead with legislation reflecting their deep mistrust of a nuclear deal with Iran whatever the outcome of talks between Tehran and major powers in Switzerland, setting up further confrontation with President Barack Obama.

(Reuters) - Indiana's Republican Governor Mike Pence, responding to national outrage over the state's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, said on Tuesday he will "fix" it to make clear businesses cannot use it to deny services to same-sex couples.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House committee is seeking a private interview with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her use of private email and a personal computer server while at the State Department, the panel said in a letter released on Tuesday.

Media

from Howl

I'm with you in Rockland
where we wake up electrified out of the coma
by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the
roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the
hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse
O skinny legions run outside O starry
spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is
here O victory forget your underwear we're free
I'm with you in Rockland
in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-
journey on the highway across America in tears
to the door of my cottage in the Western night

October 7 1955

"a remarkable collection of angelson one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure

Democrats…

Same as goddam fucking forever.
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.